was a rule among the ancients, that those persons were the most happy, in whose names the numeral letters, added together, make the greatest sum, for which reason, say they, it was that Achilles vanquished Hector, * for the former name contains 1276, and the latter only 1225. † Artemidorus, in his Oneirocritica, tells us, that there were seven names of numbers used in a mystical sense among the Greeks. These were ev, pic, E, dexa, xvdexa, and dexáxıs déxa. They also imagined that the numerical value of any of these seven words was equal to the number of years the person or persons would live who came under the rules prescribed in

“ Thus êv (one) contains fifty-five; for it is written with an epsilon and a nu; uía (one) contains fifty-one; for it is written with a mu, an iota, and an alpha; € (six) contains sixty-five; for it is written with an epsilon and a xi. If, after the same manner, we compute the number in the remaining words oéxa, (ten,) évèexa, (eleven,) and de róxt Sexo, (ten times ten,) we shall find in déroe thirty, in ένδεκα eighty-five, and in δεκάκι δέκα ninety.” They also found in dúo (two) the num

this case.

* See Chambers on the word Onomantia.

+ A, 1, %, 600, 6, 10, , 30, 2, 30, €, 5, 0, 400, and s, 200, 1276. And E, 5, x, 20, T, 300, w, 800, and

Po

100,=1225. Artemidorus lived in the reign of the emperor Antoninus. 9 Εισί δε ούτοι μόνοι» έν, μία, εξ, δέκα, ένδεκα, δεκάκις δέκα. και εςι το μέν έν, πεντηκονταπέντε, γράφεται γαρ δια του ε, και του ν. Το δε μία, πεντήκοντα εν, γράφεται γαρ δια του kg

και του ι, και του α, το δε ες, εξηκονταπέντε, γράφεται γαρ δια του ε,

ber four hundred and seventy-four after the same mode of computation. * The Greeks also had a great predilection for the number 100; and fancied that every word containing this number has à reference to something good. Thus the words αγγελήν, ή a message, πεζή, 1 pedestrian travelling, μένε, $ abide, πέδαι, I fellow-travellers, and νέμε, feed, contain each 100. . The reason assigned for this idea of the centenary number is, because the Greek words επ' αγα9d ** (for good things) contain it; ft but these words appear rather to be made for the number, than the idea of the number to be drawn from the

και του ξ· ομοίως δε και τα δέκα, και τα ένδεκα, και τα δεκάκι δέκα, τη αυτή επίνοια γράφειν και ψηφίζειν χρη: ευρεθησεται γαρ τα μεν δέκα όντα, τριάκοντα τα δέ ένδεκα, όγδοηκονταπέντε. τα δε δεκάκι δέκα, εννενήκοντα.-Oneirocritica, ii. 75, Περί χρονών ζωής.The numbers in these words are thus counted: ε, 5, ν, 50,=55; μ, 40, 1, 10, α, 1,=51; ε, 5, ξ, 60,=65; δ, 4, ε, 5, κ, 20, α, 1, =30; ε, 5, ν, 50, δ, 4, ε, 5, 8, 20, α, 1,=85; δ, 4, 6, 5, 8, 20, α, 1, κ, 20, 1, 10, δ, 4, ε, 5, κ, 20, α, 1,=90. * Ibid.

The number is thus computed: 8, 4, v, 400, and ο, 70, =474.

1 α, 1, γ, 3, γ, 3, ε, 5, λ, 30, η, 8, 1, 50,=100. Wetstein, in his comment upon Αpoc. xiii. 18, says that ανγελία is here written for dyrenia; if so, the centenary number is found as follows: ά, 1, 1, 50, γ, 3, ε, 5, λ, 30, 1, 10, 1, 1,=100.

Ιπ, 80, ε, 5, ζ, 7, η, 8,=100.
8 μ, 40, ε, 5, 6, 50, ε; 5,100.
Η π, 80, ε, 5, 8, 4, α, 1, 1, 10,=100.
Σν, 50, ε, 5, μ, 40, ε, 5,=100.

ε, 5, 7, 80, α, 1, γ, 3, α, 1, 9, 9, α, 1,=100. ++ Ιδία δε το Ρ. από του αριθμού κρίνεται.---εί γαρ αγίες ' λία [lege ανγελία] τα εκατόν - και πεζή, ίση γαρ και τούτε η

C

* *

words. Artemidorus further informs us, that it was a custom among the Greeks to interpret dreams or visions by means of the isompia ; * thus, if an old woman was seen by siek people, it was deemed a symbol of death ; because joaõs, an old woman, and $ £xdagd, the funeral, contain each the number 704. But Artemidorus very satirically, observes, “that, without this equality of number, an old woman is a symbol of a funeral," for her death cannot be at any great distance."

The art of counting the number in words, was very prevalent among the primitive Christians, and heretios, especially the latter, who carried it to a most extravagant length; and in some instances outstripped even the heathen themselves in the manifest absurdity of their remarks upon this subject, The most ancient example of the ισοψηφία upon record produced by any of the Christians, is that found in the general epistle of Barnabas, the companion of St. Paul, respecting the number

ψήφος και το μένε εκατον

και πέδαι εκατόν Tà Yu5 Tỷ View #zaròn.–Artemid. Oneirocrit. ii. 34, Wetstein in Apoc. xiii, 18.

* Artemid. Oneirocrit. iv. 26.

+4, 3, 2100, a, 1, v, 400, s, 200=704; and “, 8, ?, 5, %, 20, 0, 500, 0, 70, p, 100, 2, 1,=704.

+ Ισοψήφοις δε χρήσθαι, όταν και χωρίς τών ισοψήφων τα βλsπόμενα τούτο, όπερ αν τα ισόψηφα περιέχη, σημαίνει. οίον γραύς τοϊς νοσούσιν όρωμένη, θανάτα γίνεται σύμβολον. έςί γαρ γραύς ψδ'. και η εκφορα ψδ ́. αλλά και χωρίς του ισοψήφε, η γραύς εςιν εκφοράς σημαντική, αυτή μέλλεσα μή εις μακράν αποθνήσκειν. iv. 26.-Wetstein in Apoc. xiii. 18.

hundred, Now in the letters which stand for

318. This Writet says, that' Abitaham cirtimicised all

, the servants of his hộuschold, 318 in number, as a type " of Christ crucified. It explication of this assertion, he addresses his Christian readers in words to the following effect : ' Wherefore fearn , my children, chiefty above all things, that Abra ham at first circumcised in spirit; for, having a reference to the Son, he circumcised, receiving at the same time the doctrine of the Three Letters. For it is said, that Abraham circumcised of his household males to the number of 10, and 8, and 300. What information, then, is designed to be conveyed by this ? Learn, therefore, that the eighteen are mentioned first, and afterwards the three

, , eighteen, that is to say, in iota and etus, you have Jesus, and in the three hundred, that is to say, in the T, (tau,) the figure of the cross. Thụs Abraham typifies Jesus by two letters, and the cross by

Clemens Alexandrinus remarks, in addition to Barnabas, that Abraham routed his ene

one.

99*

* Μάθετε ούν, τέκνα, περί πάντων πλεσίως, ότι 'Αβραάμ, ο πρώτος περιτομήν τους εν πνεύματα, προβλέψας εις τον υιόν, περιέτεμε λαζων τριών χραμμάτων δόγματα: λέγει γαρ και περιέτεμεν 'Αζρααμ εκ του οίκε αυτού άνδρας δέκα και οκτώ και τριακοσίες, τις ουν η δοθείσα αυτω γνώσις; μάθετε τους δεκαοκτώ πρώτους, είτα τους τριακοσίες: το δε δέκα και οκτώ, ιώτα δέκα, ήτα οκτώ, έχεις 'Ιησούν. ότι δε σαυρός εν τω Τ, ήμελλεν έχειν την χάριν.: - - δηλοί ούν τον μεν Ιησούν εν τοις δυσά γράμμασι, και έν' εί τον σαυρώνEpist. Cathol, c. 9, pp. 28, 29, 30, Edit. I. B. Cotelerius, p. 229, Edit. Lond. 1680, ab Isaąco Vossio. See also Canisii Luctiones Antiquæ, Tom. I. p. 357, Antwerpiæ, 1725.

mies by virtue of the number 318; and he farther
observes, " that ten is allowed on all hands to
be perfect, and that eight is the first cube, and is
equal in all its dimensions of length, breadth, and
depth.”* Prudentius, in his preface to his Psy;
chomachia, speaks of the efficacy of the number
318 as follows:

Nos esse large Vernularum divites,
Siquid trecenti bis novenis additis

Possint, figurà noterimus mystica. +
We shall have acknowledged him to be abundantly rich in
servants by a mystic figure, if three hundred with twice nine

added can avail any thing.
The opinion of Barnabas that the Greek letter T
stands for the cross, as in the example just given,
has also been applied by Tertullian to Gideon's
three hundred men by whom the enemies of Israel
were discomfited. His words on this subject are
the following:

Hoc etenim signo prædonum stravit acervos
Congressus populo Christi, sine milite multo
Tercenteno equite numerus Tau, litera Græca,

Armatis facibusque et cornibus ore canentum. I
For by this sign having assembled with the people of Christ,
he dispersed the troops of the robbers with a very small force,
only three hundred, (the number of Tau, the Greek letter,)
armed with torches and trumpets.

1

* Η δεκάς δε ομολογείται παντέλειος είναι ο δε οκτώ κύβος ο πρωτος, η σωτης έν άπασαις ταϊς διασεσεσι, μηκούς, πλατούς, βαSous--Strom. Lib. vi. c. 11, in initio. 1+ See also Basnage’s Hist. of the Jews, Book iii. chap. 26, § 4. Carm. ad Marc. Lib. iii. c. 4.

1